I am forever reminded of what a prominent American—who is a Jew and a strong supporter of Israel, and who has written for the Wall Street Journal many times—told me several years ago:

I have long thought that Israel will not make it, if only because of what are cavalierly called WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and its very tight geographical compression. All else is immaterial, including the Palestinians, or us, or the nature of Israel’s [government].

WMDs come in many forms, such as deadly viruses, biological and chemical agents, and of course nuclear and nation-ending EMP attacks.[2] Neither Israel’s military, its security forces nor its “Iron Dome” can protect against such threats.[3]

The Israeli Apartheid vis-à-vis the Palestinians may have sown the seeds of the tiny Jewish state’s destruction. Indeed, one prominent Jew has asked about the treatment of Palestinians: “Is this how I wanted to be treated when I was a minority in another people’s country?”

Months and years from now, Benjamin Netanyahu and his ilk will confront the legacy of their crimes against the Palestinians, including an estimated 2,200 deaths in Gaza last year alone. He has morphed into his ancestors’ Nazi oppressors. He must be tried by the International Criminal Court, and arrested whenever he sets foot outside of Israel.

Barack Obama and other world leaders “detest” him, just as the Rabins and Ariel Sharon hated him. Indeed, Leah Rabin blamed Netanyahu for her husband Yitzhak’s assassination. She saw “only doom for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process” with Netanyahu at Israel’s helm; and her views were prescient.[4]

Each day that Netanyahu remains in power[5] brings Israel closer to its demise, and Jews globally closer to the first holocaust of the 21st Century—which may make the Nazi Holocaust of the last century seem like “child’s play.” The human carnage might make even mass murderers like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung wince.[6]

The massacre and mindless slaughter of Jews—and especially Orthodox Jews—may be coming and might surpass anything that ISIS/ISIL or other global terrorist groups have done thus far. The rape and enslavement of Jewish women—prior to their brutal torture and death—may make what the Soviets and Japanese did to German women[7] and Korean “comfort women”[8] pale by comparison.

The goal of Israel’s enemies would be to annihilate all Israelis, and then systematically focus on Jews around the world until they are exterminated.[9] Today, Jews can be targeted globally and there is nothing that Israel or its vaulted Mossad can do to protect them. This will only get dramatically worse. Tragically, Jews are the most hated group of human beings on the planet, yet they respond out of fear and anger—and lash out with hatred toward others, including Islamophobia.[10]

American president—and the father of today’s Left—Franklin D. Roosevelt, turned away the MS St. Louis from docking at American ports, and consigned most of the Jewish refugees aboard to their deaths in Europe.[11] The other anti-Semites in FDR’s administration knew of the Nazi concentration camps, yet did nothing about them. Soon, the world may turn a “blind eye” to the fate of Israel and global Jewry.[12]

Like the Jews aboard the MS St. Louis, they may be truly on the last “Voyage of the Damned.”[13]

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (seewww.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele

[10] Jews cowardly try to stifle debate at Web sites, and label anyone who does not agree with Netanyahu, AIPAC and the AIPAC-bought Republican lackeys in Congress as anti-Semites, which of course is absurd.

Labeling people as anti-Semites, much less on a wholesale basis, reverberates to the detriment of Jews, Israel and Israelis. Indeed, Jews are being urged to flee to Israel, as anti-Semitism spreads dramatically in Europe and globally.

[13] Seehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_of_the_Damned (“Voyage of the Damned”—”[M]ore than 600 of the 937 passengers [aboard the MS St. Louis], who did not resettle in the United Kingdom but in the other European nations, ultimately were deported and died in Nazi concentration camps”)

Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan were great and heroic American leaders, who would be disgusted and saddened with their Republican Party today. It has deteriorated into a clique of whining, puny “establishment” ciphers like Karl Rove, Mitch McConnell, George Will, Bill Kristol and Peggy Noonan[2]—who have never done anything great or heroic in their collective lifetimes, and are the worst of American politics.

They traffic in fear and implicit hatred of everything that Donald Trump stands for; they have been brutally divisive; and they are doing everything in their power to demonize and block the presidential candidacy of Trump[3], who is leading in the polls[4]. They are the reason why lots of Americans left the GOP years ago, and will never return except to vote for Trump, and only Trump.

If they were to succeed in preventing him from getting the party’s nomination, many Americans would vote for him as an Independent, or literally hold their noses and vote for Hillary Clinton[5], or not vote at all in the general election. This would effectively “gut” the GOP, like Ross Perot did in 1992. The American people are angry; and this includes very conservative GOP women, Independents, and Reagan Democrats.

One needs to work on or with Capitol Hill to realize fully how bad both national political parties are. If one truly cares about our great nation and its future, the rejection of both parties is an easy and necessary decision. This is why lots of Americans have become Independents[6], and will never become members of either national party again. These Americans do not care what happens to the GOP. If it goes down the drain, so be it. The same is true of the Democratic Party. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, an Independent will be elected as America’s president.[7]

However, the criticism of Trump is not limited to the Republican party, or the Democrats, but extends abroad as well, in countries such as the UK.[8] Most Americans do not care what the Brits think about anything, much less our electoral politics. The country is descending into irrelevancy; and that process will be accelerated when Scotland leaves and the Trident program is canceled[9]. The sheer stupidity of some Brits is mind-boggling though—until it is remembered that the UK might be speaking German now if the U.S. had not been its “salvation” in World War II.

They ridiculed Reagan too. Lest they forget relatively-recent history, Reagan and George H.W. Bush set their sights on destroying the USSR, and it is gone now, without a shot being fired. The Brits and others in Europe would still be cowering at the feet of the Soviets but for the United States. How many young kids today have ever heard of the Soviet Union or the USSR, or the Cold War? Yet, in elementary schools in Los Angeles, as an example, students were taught to hide under their desks and cover their heads, and shield themselves from “falling debris”—stemming from a Soviet nuclear attack.

At some point, Trump and his lovely wife, Melania, may ask: “Do we really need this?” The answer is clearly “no,” and he might drop out of the race—although hopefully not. If he does, many Americans will never vote for a GOP candidate again, as retribution. Perhaps Trump gains satisfaction from “fighting the system,” and trying to make America better, just as Ronald Reagan did before him. Clearly, the “establishments” of both parties scream and “claw” at those who dare to challenge their power and orthodoxy. It is like belonging to a private club that discriminates.

Trump is admired by vast numbers of Americans, from all walks of life, just as Reagan was. Who would have thought that Reagan and Bush could have brought down the USSR’s thoroughly “Evil Empire.” Russia and its KGB-trained brutal killer and dictator-for-life, Vladimir Putin, must be next.[10] Reagan truly changed the world, which is why he is deified and “Teflon-coated” today—much to the disgust of the Democrats who hated him, just as they hated Richard Nixon and now Donald Trump. The Neanderthals in the GOP are too stupid to recognize the parallels.

Like Reagan before him, Trump represents America’s glorious future, not its past.[11]

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (seewww.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele

[2] Noonan is a perfect example. Like Rove, Will and Kristol, she is full of herself and a raving Narcissist. Her words have not been worth reading in years. She considers herself one of the GOP “elites,” when in reality she and the others are nothing more than whining, puny “establishment” ciphers. Her latest Trump “hit piece” in the Wall Street Journal is an example.

[11] By way of full disclosure, the author believed that former Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin had a very bright political future, which turned out to be wrong. Indeed, he believed that “two women might face off for the American presidency in 2012,” Hillary Clinton and Palin—which did not happen.

Christianity has 2.2 billion followers. Islam has 1.8 billion followers. At most, Judaism has 14 million followers. There are radical members of each religious group; and Americans cannot allow fear to generate unbridled hatred and anger.[2] The United States and the American people are not at war with Islam or its followers. Anyone who suggests otherwise is Islamophobic.

Islamophobia does not have any place in the U.S. Yet, this is exactly what many are preaching today, which is wrong. Islamophobia is un-American, and inconsistent with Jesus’ teachings as set forth in the New Testament—just as racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination are evil. Fear spawns hatred, anger and retribution. Too much of it is present in America and other countries.

According to the rhetoric espoused by some people, one might think that they want to kill all followers of Islam, or attack or discriminate against them, which is absurd and evil unto itself. A large number of Americans are afraid. But their fear is nothing when compared with the fears that were present in the U.S. after 9/11.

We live in difficult and challenging times.[3] But the terrorist acts of a few cannot be allowed to permeate and change our great nation or the American people. This is a lesson we learned from World War II. An estimated 110,000 Japanese-Americans were “interned” at Manzanar in California and at other camps, because of similar fears.[4]

Terrorist attacks have occurred in the U.S. and abroad. Tragically, it seems that “terrorism”—in its many forms—will be present for a long time to come. Kate Steinle was killed brutally in the “sanctuary city” of San Francisco by a known criminal and illegal immigrant.[5] Oklahoma City was bombed by Timothy McVeigh[6]. More than 900 perished in the religious cult of Jim Jones.[7] Mass killings occurred recently in Paris[8] and San Bernardino, California[9]. And the list goes on and on.

Large numbers of Americans tune out Barack Obama because of their frustrations, anger and disgust. Indeed, there is enormous venom with respect to the followers of Islam and him—as well as outright racism—which appears on Web sites in the U.S. and abroad. Often, violent statements and actions are directed at both.[10]

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (seewww.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele

[2] It has been said: “Muslims are like guns and gun owners. There is only trouble with a small percentage.”

To campaign for so-called man-made “global warming” or “climate change” in Paris—while grief and fear still prevail, pervade and permeate—is insensitive, inhumane, shameful and repulsive. It is an affront to the memories of those who died or were injured in the attacks on that great city, to all Parisians who have suffered, to the French people, and to the world.[2]

It is cheap and crass politics at its worst. No wonder a rising number of Americans and people around the world are rejecting government in general, and their own governments in particular.[3] George Orwell foretold of this madness in his Animal Farm, where the “Pigs” reigned supreme and were masters over—and subjugated—the other animals.[4]

Barack Obama is among the world’s so-called “elites” whose criminal obsession and fanaticism with global warming are threats to civilized life on this planet. In another time, the proponents of “global warming” would have been members of the “Flat Earth Society,” and claimed a consensus with respect to it too. So-called man-made “global warming” is a hoax and “The Great Green Con.”

Terrorists roam France, and the global economy teeters closer to the abyss[5], yet the farcical meeting of misguided Lilliputians and charlatans occurs in Paris. Even if all human beings and other animals were removed from the Earth, there would still be natural cycles of warming and cooling. Our Earth has gone through such cycles for millions of years, which will continue long after all of us and our offspring have left this planet.

It has been reported:

(1) The “COP-21 climate deal in Paris spells [the] end of the fossil era,”

(2) ”Much of the fossil industry will go into slow run-off while the new plutocrats will be masters of post-carbon technology,”

(3) ”[T]he fossil fuel industry of coal, gas, and oil could forfeit $34 trillion in revenues over the next quarter century—a quarter of their income—if the Paris accord is followed by a series of tougher reviews every five years to force down the trajectory of CO2 emissions, as proposed by the United Nations and French officials hosting the talks,”

(4) ”Most fossil companies would face [a] run-off unless they could reinvent themselves as 21st Century post-carbon leaders,” and

(5) ”Such a scenario would imply the near extinction of the coal industry unless there is a big push for carbon capture and storage. It also implies a near total switch to electric cars, rendering the internal combustion engine obsolete.”[6]

This only tells part of the story with respect to the estimated $34 trillion swindle or transfer of wealth.[7] A multitude of class-action lawsuits may spring up globally—against the oil, gas and coal industries, and others who would dare to challenge the “global warming” orthodoxy. Stark and undemocratic intimidation and scare tactics have begun already, with much more draconian measures to follow.

The Obama presidency cannot end quickly enough. Many Americans view him as a feckless naïf, and a tragic Shakespearean figure who may be forgotten and consigned to the dustheap of history. His naïveté has been matched by his overarching narcissism; and he is more starry-eyed and “dangerous” than Jimmy Carter.[8]

His presidency is considered already by many Americans as a sad watershed in United States history—by blacks and whites alike.[9], Republicans, Independents and members of his own party. His “global warming” escapade is consistent with that tragically tarnished legacy. When the next president takes office, what Obama has done in Paris may be reversed; and the entire “global warming” swindle may come crashing down.

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (seewww.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele

Note: The author does not represent anyone or any entity on either side of the “global warming” or “climate change” debate. The views expressed herein are strictly personal, and not motivated by any personal gain or the prospect thereof.

The death of Russia’s brutal dictator-for-life Vladimir Putin, and the end of Russia, will comprise the final chapter of the Cold War—which began at the end of World War II, and lasted more than 70 years.

Lots of us have lived through that war since we were children. Growing up a mile west of UCLA’s Westwood campus in Los Angeles, and attending elementary school not far away in the suburb of Brentwood, my classmates and I had to go through mock nuclear explosion drills and hide under our desks and shield our heads from “falling debris.” I remember it well.

It is estimated that the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin was responsible for the deaths of more than 30 million men, women and children—his own countrymen—including millions during the collectivization of the Soviet farms in the 1930s. As the Soviets moved through Germany and captured Berlin at the end of World War II, they raped at least two million German women in what is now acknowledged as the largest case of mass rape in history.[2]

To their credit, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush set their sights on destroying the Soviet Union; and it is gone, without a shot being fired. After Soviet forces left Afghanistan in humiliation and defeat—and in body bags—the USSR imploded. The Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fell, and the rest is history. Yet, the Cold War did not end.

Putin is a killer, and Stalin’s heir.[3] After World War II, he came to prominence as a KGB operative in East Germany—or the DDR, as it was known before the collapse of Erich Honecker’s government—which was one of the most repressive regimes in the Soviet Union’s orbit, or the Evil Empire. Following the USSR’s implosion, Putin and his thugs and cronies hijacked Russia’s incipient democracy, and have been exploiting it ever since.

Despite being a “public servant” all of his life, Putin has amassed a fortune estimated to be $70 billion; “Versailles” has been built for him already[4]; and his cronies have amassed billions of dollars too, and are living like kings outside of Russia. The Russian people need to recover what Putin and his cronies have stolen from them, and then terminate all of them—like the last Czar and his family, and Italy’s Benito Mussolini. Nothing less will suffice.

The world must never forget that Putin left the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing to launch his aggression against Georgia. Then, he left the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and launched his aggression against Crimea and the rest of Ukraine. Also, the world must never forget that in addition to downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17—and killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board—Putin killed Alexander Litvinenko and countless others.

Russia is crippled as a result of our economic sanctions and the fall of oil prices. By ratcheting up the sanctions even more—such as unilaterally denying Russia access to the SWIFT banking system—Putin and Russia will be in free fall, and in a death spiral from which they will not recover. Putin’s “invasion” of Syria may prove to be quicksand for him, just as Afghanistan was for the Soviets.

Russia is weaker today than the former USSR before it collapsed. It spans nine time zones and includes 160 ethnic groups that speak an estimated 100 languages. It is by no means monolithic, and may crumble “overnight.” Once Putin is gone, Russia may be dismembered—never to rise again—with China taking part (e.g., Siberia, which it covets) and the rest becoming independent states like the former Yugoslavia.

Each of the new states will act in its own best interests, just as has been true in the former Yugoslavia, and among the countries that were spun off from the USSR—which have thrived as part of the West. Putinism will not survive Putin. It will suffer an ignominious death, like its namesake; and constitute a tragic watershed in history, like Adolf Hitler’s “Thousand Year Reich” and Nazism.

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (seewww.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele

On Friday the 13th day of November, 2015, the city of Paris was hit by multiple, deadly terrorist attacks. Like September 11, 2001 in New York City—or “9/11″[3]—the attacks and those who died will live on in the world’s consciousness. They were tragic, horrific events similar those that have occurred in other cities and countries during recent years.

Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, in what is now the State of Hawaii, was struck on the morning of December 7, 1941, which led to the United States’ entry into World War II—”a date which will live in infamy,” in the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[4]

For non-New Yorkers, the city was cold and overwhelming for most Americans before 9/11. Even for those who could afford it, and traveled there for business, it was still uninviting. After 9/11, most Americans embraced it and the heroic rescuers who went to the twin towers of the World Trade Center, trying to save lives. Many of them perished.

“Windows on the World” restaurant, at the top of the North Tower, had spectacular views of the city; and one’s ears popped riding the elevator to its 107th floor.[5] It is gone now, but New York City remains the financial capital of the world. Similarly, the lovely city of Paris will survive and flourish even more after the attacks, for it has taken its place in the hearts of people around the world.

There are thousands of stories to be told by the survivors and other witnesses, and by those who came to their aid. Perhaps they are best exemplified in the interview conducted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper with Isobel Bowdery and Amaury Baudoin, which is short and should be watched in its entirety:

In a wonderful and loving sense, all of us became Parisians, just like all of us became New Yorkers.

Also, it must never be forgotten that Islam has approximately 1.8 billion followers, only a pittance of whom are terrorists. It would be wrong to discriminate against the majority, or ostracize them. They have suffered too, for the acts of the radicals.

Please remember the words of Love, and the emotions expressed by both Isobel Bowdery and Amaury Baudoin . . .

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (seewww.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/documents/TimothyD.NaegeleResume.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search: Timothy D. Naegele

In an article entitled, “Killer of Cecil the Lion Finds Out That He Is a Target Now, of Internet Vigilantism,” the New York Times has reported about the killing of “Cecil,” a 13-year-old lion that was lured out of his sanctuary in Zimbabwe and killed this month by a Bloomington, Minnesota dentist.

The lion was lured out by pieces of meat that had been left just outside the boundary of his territory, where no hunting is allowed and anti-poaching patrols operate. It has created an international outcry and furor.[2] As the Times has reported:

In the hours since Dr. Walter J. Palmer apologized for killing the lion, he has gone from a dentist and longtime hunting enthusiast to a villain at the center of a firestorm over the ethics of big-game trophy hunting.

. . .

[He has] joined an ever-expanding group of people who have become targets of Internet vigilantism, facing a seemingly endless shaming. . . .

. . .

[A]ctivists used search engines to find his contact information and social media to share information about his business and his family, stirring a fever pitch of anger strong enough to effectively dismantle his digital life.

. . .

Cecil had been closely studied by researchers at the University of Oxford since 2008 as part of efforts to study a decline in Africa’s lion population and to better understand the threats the animals face. The university’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit said in a statement that Cecil’s adult “brothers” and cubs would probably be killed by other male lions seeking dominance in the community.

. . .

According to the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, the lion was shot with a crossbow after he was lured out of the sanctuary, following the scent of food. Cecil, well known to those who visited Hwange National Park in western Zimbabwe for his jet black mane, was only injured by the arrow. The hunters tracked him for about two days before he was killed with a gun, conservation officials said. He was beheaded and skinned, his corpse left to rot.[3]

Palmer has been called a “Murderer!” and a “Terrorist!” Indeed, the UK’s Daily Mail has reported: “Horrifically maimed by an arrow, Cecil managed to stay alive for 40 hours.” Also, he was an alpha male lion and leader of his pride of two lionesses and six cubs; and he was “known for his imperious attitude towards tourists on game drives.”

The Daily Mail added:

He was named Cecil after Cecil Rhodes, the British mining magnate, having first been spotted in 2008 at a place called White Man’s Watering Hole inside Zimbabwe’s famous Hwange National Park, and subsequently given a collar to track his movements for an Oxford University project.[4]

According to the Times, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed last October to list the African lion as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, “a move that would also establish guidelines for permitting the importing of lion trophies.” The proposal is still under review and has not been adopted yet.[5]

How tragic and utterly senseless. Sir Roger Moore of James Bond fame has written in the UK’s Telegraph:

[H]unting is a coward’s pastime, and no one has demonstrated that more clearly than [Palmer], who apparently paid over £30,000 to gun down a lion to add his head to a trophy wall. . . . [I]t’s detestable that anyone would choose to get thrills from killing others who ask for nothing from life but the chance to remain alive. The animals whose lives he has so cold-heartedly snuffed out have precisely the same capacity to feel pain and suffer as we do. All leave family members or mates behind when they’re killed, and none is exempt from grief.[6]

[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (seewww.naegele.com and http://www.naegele.com/naegele_resume.html). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He is a member of the District of Columbia and California bars. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g.,www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com; see also Google search:Timothy D. Naegele